Background
Taylor was born in Eugene, Oregon.
Taylor was born in Eugene, Oregon.
Williams attended Camas High School in Camas, Washington. He played for the school's baseball team, and graduated in 2010.
Taylor is a graduate of the Sheldon High School. After graduating from Sheldon, Williams enrolled at Portland State University before dropping out to pursue his music. He worked at a dog hotel in order to support himself while pursuing music.
Early days That same year, Taylor released an independent EP “Proverbial Elephant" on Grooveshark. 2014: The Voice In September 2014, it was announced that Williams would compete in Season 7 of NBC's The Voice. In his "Blind Audition," he performed an acoustic cover of Kanye West's "Heartless," which caused Adam Levine and Gwen Stefani to press their "I Want You" buttons and turn their chairs.
Williams chose Gwen Stefani as his coach. In the Battle rounds, he defeated fellow Team Gwen member Amanda Lee Peers, dueting Dolly Parton's "Jolene," and advanced to the Knockout rounds. During the Playoffs, Taylor sang Stealers Wheel's "Stuck in the Middle with You" and was voted through by America.
In the following weeks, he covered "If," "Come Together" by The Beatles, and "Royals" by Lorde, all of which caused him to be voted through by America. During the Semifinals, he covered both "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová and "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift. Williams was within the bottom 3 in voting and thus was eliminated.
However, like eight other eliminated artists, Taylor was given the opportunity to reenter the competition and participate in the finals as the "Wildcard" finalist. In this new Wildcard round, Williams covered "Wicked Game" by Chris Isaak. Contestant Damien from Adam Levine's team was selected as the Wildcard finalist, ultimately eliminating Williams from the competition.
He then played collegiate summer baseball for the Keene Swamp Bats of the New England Collegiate Baseball League, where he had three members of the Kent State Golden Flashes baseball team as his teammates.